abode in God.

Blessings my friends of steemit.

"We know that if our earthly dwelling, this tabernacle, is undone, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal, in the heavens."

I would like to highlight what Paul was saying here. He does not say, "we hope" to have a dwelling, or we have "an expectation" of having a dwelling; or even "we believe" to have a dwelling place. What he said expressed a certainty. He said: "we know" that we have a home. And dear listener, believe us that this "we know" here is very important. It is a know that expresses with the same security that if already had experienced it. Paul knew it because the Spirit of God had revealed it to him.

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The word "tabernacle" comes from the word "skene", which means "tent". And that is the word that was used for the tent of the crossing through the desert in the Septuagint, translation of the Old Testament into the Greek. The tabernacle of the Old Testament, the mosaic tabernacle, was called a "skene". It was something quite flimsy, fragile and what he was saying here is something wonderful.

Paul had referred to his mortal body (4:10 and 11) and in verse 16 he said that this body was decaying. Now, in this passage he compared it to a weak, fragile shop, which would soon be destroyed. It is interesting to remember that, according to John 1:14, Christ, in his incarnated body, lived among human beings, and by saying "he dwelt" the writer used the word derived from "tent" or "tabernacle." In this verse then, the earthly body, which is temporal, is contrasted with the celestial body, which is eternal.

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The reference to the celestial body as a house of God, eternal, not built by human hands, reminds us of Jesus' description of his own resurrection body as a temple "not made by hands" (Mark 14:58). We could say that in this chapter 5: 1 of Second Corinthians, Paul briefly summarized what he had previously written to the Corinthians about the nature of the resurrection body (which you can read, specifically, in First Corinthians 15: 34-54). His confident affirmation in saying "we know", then, is also based on the arguments presented in that 15th chapter of First Corinthians.

In Ecclesiastes 12: 3-5, according to some interpreters, it refers to a human figure who suffers the natural process of decay. It says there: "the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong bow down, those who grind are idle because they are few, and those who look through the windows are blinded, when the doors of the street are closed because they are under the the sound of the mill, and one rises to the song of the bird, and all the daughters of the song are slain. " In this passage, the guardians of the house represent the legs, those legs that the advance of the years makes tremble. The strong ones illustrate the shoulders, which with the weight of age bend. Those that grind, could illustrate the wear and loss of teeth. Those who look through the windows, represent the eyes, whose light fades with aging, giving rise to an imperfect vision, when losing sight. The low sound of the mill speaks of the progressive loss of hearing. This is therefore the result of the age that is affecting the outer part of the person. Therefore the apostle said that the things that are seen are temporary.

But there is an inner person, and that inner person is spiritual. It is difficult for us to understand this. Now, God is a person, but God is not a physical, material being. God is Spirit. In John 4:24, in the account of the conversation between Jesus and a woman from Samaria, Jesus told her: "God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." That's what the Lord Jesus Christ said.

Humanly speaking, some people say that they would not like to reach old age. Of course, we must consider that, in cases where good health is enjoyed, retired people can spend their time more freely doing what they really like to do. But from a spiritual point of view, we must recognize that each year that passes we are closer to the day when we will see the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who loved us and gave himself for us. And that perspective should make us happy.

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So, dear friend of steemit, we have an eternal house in heaven. This body of ours will be sown as a natural body, a material body, but it will be resurrected as a spiritual body. And God will give us, in the hereafter, a new body. Now, Paul said something more about it.